Roving-feeding mechanism



Sept. 10, 1929.

G.l E. GIBBS ROVING FEEDING MECHANISK v Filed Nov. 8. 192B' M d willPatented Sept. 10,` 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. GIBBS, y0F .ATTLEBOVRQ MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN RE-ENFORCED PAPER COMPANY, OFATTLEBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION orMASSACHUSETTS.

ROVINGr-IFEEOING MECHANISM.

Application led November 8, 1928. Serial No. 318,062.

This invention rela-tes to improved mechanism for advancing rovings frombales or other sources of supply into parallel relation to form a sheetof rovings.

It is found that unspun iibres of long staple form excellent paperreenforcing strands, and mechanism has been proposed heretofore foradhesively securing a thin layer of long unspun fibres to a sheet ofpaper to reenforce the paper. In some cases the reenforcing fibres areapplied'longitudinally of the sheet or sheets of paper to be reenforcedas disclosed in the Howard and Sharp United States Patent N o.1,565,009, dated December 8, 1925, while in other constructions thereenfo-rcing fibres are applied both longitudinally and transversely ofthe sheet or sheets of paper to be reenforced as disclosed in the HowardUnited States Patent Numbered 1,590,167, dated June 22, 1926. y

In each 0f the patents just mentioned the reenforcing fibres aresupplied to the paper reenforcing machines in the form of rovings y thatare laid side by side to form a sheet of fibres, which after beingcombed and ldrawn out is applied to? the adhesive covered sheet of paperto be reenforced.

The rovings are supplied in the form of bales to the paper reenforcingmanufacturers and since a large number of rovings may be employed toreenforce a Wide sheet of paper and each roving bale is relativelylarge, the entire group of bales from which the rovings are drawn to thepaper reenforcing machiney occupy considerable floor space. Muchditliculty has thereforebeenexperienced heretofore in devising asatisfactory construction whereby the rovings from the various bales orother sources of` supply maybe led inthe form yof a sheet to the paperreenforcing machine. f 4

The present invention therefore relates to improved mechanism forguiding a large number of rovings from bales or other ysources of supplyinto position to forma traveling sheet of rovings. tures of the presentinvention resides in spaced bars or rollers that are disposed above thesources of roving supplies to support the Jadvancing rovings that aredrawn from One of the feaf the sources of supply, and another featureresides in guides associated with thesebars and adapted to guide therovings side by side into the sheet forming relation.

Vhile the roving feeding mechanismk of the'present invention is designed`more. particularly for use in supplyinga sheet of rov n ings to apaperzreenforcing machine Lit obviously may be employed in variousfields Where a relatively wide sheet of rovings is desired. g

The various features of the invention and novel combination of `partswill be best un-v derstood from' the following description when read inconnection with ythev accompanyin g drawings.

In the drawings eoy Fig. 1 is a perspective view of amachine iconstructed in accordance ywith the present invention; f i

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional throughthe machine of Fig. l, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a roving guide and its supporting bar. l

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated yin the drawings theroving supporting bars or rollers 10 are mounted upon the horiviewzontally extending side rails 11 whichv rails f .i under the 4advancingrpull to which they are subjected.

The bars or rollers 10 may be ,journaled in the supporting brackets 13for rotative movement, or if desired they kmay be nonrotativelysupported. A greater pull necessarily will be required to advance therovings over fixed bars rthan over rotating bars or rollers, but anytendency of the loose fibres'to wrap around the rotating barsfmay aor beprevented by mounting these bars so 'that alternate bars 10 as shown,and that each they will not rotate.

The rovings 15 are usually supplied to the user in the Yform of bales16, and in accordance with the present invention these bales or othersources of roving supply may be placed upon the door of the building inVcientv floor space forV the vlarge number of' bales required to supplythe ldesired number of rovings, these bales are preferably arranged insuccessive rows beneath the guide bars 10 throughout the length of themachine, as will be apparent from the drawing. The rovings supplied by atransversely f extending row of bales 16 are led upwardly about a bar 10disposed vover suoli row of bales, and are then led forward over theseries of bars lengthwise of the machine as kindicated by the arrow toform the sheet of rovings 17 shown at the front of the machine asextending downwardly through an opening 18 in the floor of the building.

It is necessary to guide the rovings as they pass upwardly around theguide bars 10 to direct them over the bars and lengthwise of the machineso that the rovings will form the desired sheet 17, and this isaccomplished vin the construction shown` by .providing adjacent eachkbarv or roller 10 ,r ing guide 19 is preferably such that a roving maybe moved laterally. into and out .of en,V gagement with the guide, aswill be appar-y ent from Fig. 3, wherein it will be Vseen that the guideis ing wings 24.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that several rovings 15 are ledupwardly from their sources of supply over a guide bar` or roller 10 andthen lengthwise ofthe roving feeding machine yover `and under the Theindividual rovings provided with the spaced guidl guide 19 may beadjusted lengthwise of its supporting bar to guide its particular rovinglengthwise of the machine to forni the desired roving sheet 17.

The series of bars 10 are preferably sup ported a substantial distancefrom the licor of the building, as will be apparent from the drawing, inorder to allow sufficient clearance space between the roving bales andguides 19 to permit the kinks or twists in the rovings that are drawnupwardly from the bales tostraighten out before these kinks or twistsreach the guides.

rlhe roving feeding machine forming the subject matter of the presentinvention necessarily voccupies considerable floor space and it willtherefore be found desirable in many cases to mount this machine uponthe floor ofa building which is disposed above the paper reenforcingmachine or other machine to which the sheet 17 of rovings may be fed, asthis will secure a substantial saving in floor space adjacent themachine to which the sheet of rovings may be fed. Such arrangement isreadily accomplished by drawing the sheetl? of rovings downwardlythrough an opening 18 in the floor. The sheet advancing means vemployedinthe present construction consists of a pair of rollers 25 and 26``which ymay be disposed below the floor in .which the opening 18 isformed to receive the sheet of rovings therebetween, and one of theserollers may be driven by any suitable means such as a worm gear 27 whichmeshes with and is drivenby a worm 28 ymounted upon the driving shaft29.

The reenforcing libres usually employed heretofore in reenforcingV paperhave been of long staple such as secured from flax, sisal, hemp or thelike, and it is found that if the bars or rollers` 10 engage theopposite faces of the sheet of rovings as shown, the untwist-ed rovingsformed of these'long unspun libres may be pulled from the source ofsupply 16 through the guides 19 and over the Vvarious guide bars 10without unduly attenuating the rovings, by merely driving thecooperating rollers 25, 26.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the roving feeding machineforming the subject matter of the present invention is simple inconstruction and that since the roving guides 19 are adjustablelengthwise of their supporting bars, these guides are readily adjustedto -direct kthe rovings lengthwise of the supporting structure asdesired. Furthermore, since the guides 19 are only partially'closedytherovings may be readily moved laterally into and out of engagement with aguide, thus simplifying the operation of placing therovings in theguides.

lVhat is claimed is f 1. A machine for assembling rovings of fibres sideby .sideto form a fibrous sheet,

` chine over the spaced bars to form the desired sheet, and power drivenmeans positioned to engage the sheet of rovings to pull the individualrovings from the source of supply over said bars.

2. A machine for assembling rovings of libres side by side to form afibrous sheet, comprising a series of spaced rollers mounted in elevatedrelation to the floor above separate bales or other sources of rovingsupply7 to support the advancing rovings, guides for the individualrovings mounted adjacent the rollers for adjustment transversely of themachine to direct the rovings longitudinally of the machine over therollers, and driven means positioned to engage the sheet of rovings andpull the individual rovings from the source of supply over the rollers.

3. A machine for assembling rovings of fibres side by side to form` asheet, comprising a supporting frame, a series of bars mounted upon theframe in spaced relation to each other and at a substantial distance:from the floor to support rovings drawn upward from the ioor and overthe bars, guides ad'justably mounted adjacent the bars for adjustmenttransversely of the machine to direct the rovings drawn over the barsinto parallel relation to form the roving sheet, and power actuatedmeans positioned to engage the sheet of rovings to pull the individualrovings from the source of supply over said bars.

4. A machine :tor assembling rovings of bres side by side to form asheet, comprising a supporting frame, a series of bars mounted upon theframe in spaced relation to each other and at a substantial distancefrom the floor to support rovings drawn upward from the oor and over thebars, power actuated means adapted to engage and advance the sheet ofrovings and thereby pull the individual rovings from their source ofsupply over said bars, and guides mounted adjacent the bars to directthe rovings drawn u wardly from the source of supply over t e bars tothe sheet forming position and each guide being constructed so that aroving may be moved laterally into and out of engagement with the guide.

5. A machine for assembling rovings of long unspun fibres side by sideto form a sheet, comprising a supporting frame, a series of bars mountedu on the frame in spaced relation to each ot er and at a substantialdistance from the fioor to support rovings drawn upward from the floorover the bars, poweractuated means for pulling i the rovings from thesourceof supply over the bars lengthwise of the machine, guides mountedadjacent the bars and adjustable lengthwise thereof to direct therovings drawn upwardly from the sourceof supply to the sheet formingposition, and each gui de having an entrance opening through which therovings can be moved laterally into the guide.

Inytestimony whereof, I have signed my name n to this specication.

GEORGE E. GIBBS.

